05-31-2015, 12:11 PM
This is the 3rd installment of the pivotal Shaolin Temple trilogy, the one that debuted Jet Li and numerous other wushu stars. I hadn't seen it in years, but revisited it because it just came available via Netflix and we are just about to do a cover on the final male lead from this trilogy as we've done all the rest already.
This film reunites the cast in new roles which is why it's sort of a dangling installment to the trilogy. It's not shot at Shaolin. It's shot in the gorgeous mountains and lakes of Guilin, so the scenery is just amazing. But the story sucks, painfully so. It's a lot of really annoying kids. Really annoying. Jet is one of them. He even sings Chinese opera (dubbed because he can't sing). There are lots of gratuitous kid butt shots. I've never understood what is up with that with films made during this period. There's even some baby penis fondling and baby penis kissing by one of China's greatest swordsmen. srsly. major ew factor.
But the fights rock. Sword fights, lots of 'em. Jet's clever 3-section vs. 2 3-section fight. Bald Eagle's wacky circle-saw-blad shield and claw. Those super annoying kids? They are great martial artists and get of some top notch choreography for kids. Great stuff. It's a good fast-forward-to-the-fight-scenes flick.
This film reunites the cast in new roles which is why it's sort of a dangling installment to the trilogy. It's not shot at Shaolin. It's shot in the gorgeous mountains and lakes of Guilin, so the scenery is just amazing. But the story sucks, painfully so. It's a lot of really annoying kids. Really annoying. Jet is one of them. He even sings Chinese opera (dubbed because he can't sing). There are lots of gratuitous kid butt shots. I've never understood what is up with that with films made during this period. There's even some baby penis fondling and baby penis kissing by one of China's greatest swordsmen. srsly. major ew factor.
But the fights rock. Sword fights, lots of 'em. Jet's clever 3-section vs. 2 3-section fight. Bald Eagle's wacky circle-saw-blad shield and claw. Those super annoying kids? They are great martial artists and get of some top notch choreography for kids. Great stuff. It's a good fast-forward-to-the-fight-scenes flick.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse